Those who believe in global warming will tell you that as the earth’s temperature rises, so will sea levels. This could have catastrophic consequences for coastline populations.

There are, however, young inventors prepared for an uncertain future. Twelve-year-old Fort Lauderdale, Florida, US citizen Peyton Robertson lived through a rough hurricane season and decided to do something. Learning that sandbags are the world’s most common way to curb flooding, Robertson did his homework and added an expandable, lightweight polymer combined with salt.

When wet, the bags form a dense barrier made even more effective by interlocking fasteners. After a storm, they return to their lightweight state. The invention made Robertson the youngest winner ever of Discovery Education’s annual 3M Young Scientist Challenge. He’s also emerged as extraordinarily articulate, telling the judges that he “didn’t so much become interested in science as a standalone subject as I became interested in the science behind other things I was working on and was curious about.”

He urges kids to get involved in solving local and global challenges. “Start by listing all the problems that affect the area in which you live. Odds are those problems will be more interesting to you, provide more local resources to access, and ultimately prove to be issues with a broad global impact. Failure is progress and a normal part of the process.” What are your students busy inventing right now?